Official: Waste At Scallop Plant Contains Highly Toxic Chemicals

ST. AUGUSTINE — Recent state testing of waste products from the Homer Smith scallop processing plant showed the effluents contained highly toxic materials, a state official said Saturday.

Dan Thompson, general counsel for the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, said biologists have not determined the source or cause of the poisonous wastes at the plant, but hope to have some indication of the problems this week.

For more than two years, the plant has discharged wastes into Trout Creek, where two fish kills occurred last summer. Plant manager Tony Frost said the facility is seeking permits to build a 13,000-foot pipeline to carry wastes into the St. John`s River and that he was not surprised by the state`s findings. But several area residents, St. Johns County and at least one environmental group -- River Systems Preservation, Inc. -- oppose granting the permits necessary for building the new pipeline.